The Fight that Changed It All
by Tanith Tumultuous
Summary: Just a femslash Cath/Sara story. Rape mentioned. Sara and Catherine finally realise why they fight so much, but will things change once the truth comes out?
1. Chapter 1

Sara Sidle breathed deeply. She could feel her mind clouding. Every word Catherine was saying was like a knife to her heart. She could see that Catherine was about to deliver the death blow, and attempted to prepare her defences as quickly as she could.

"You know, every time we get a case with a hint of domestic violence or abuse, you go off the deep end. What is your problem?"

Too soon. Maybe with another second Sara could contain her response, maybe convince herself that Cat felt the same electricity as she did and that's why they fought so much. Perhaps she could have lied to herself that it was all sexual tension.

She let her brain register the shock. She tried to rein it in. But it was too late.

"Yeah, I probably do, and you let your sexuality cloud your judgment about men, and I'm gonna go over your head." She was so upset, so irritated, so unfulfilled.

No matter how many strawberry blondes with blue eyes she fucked, they'd never be Catherine. She'd been falling in love with her steadily from the day Cat had told her that Catherine Willows was in the field.

Uh-oh, she thought, as her mind dragged her back to the present. Catherine was preparing a response to that. Sara didn't think she could take much more. In the heat of the moment, she forgot to reel herself in, and in one self-preserving, heart-on-the-line moment she threw herself at the woman before her. She kissed her steadily on the lips, holding her biceps for support.

_I wonder how much she works out? It can't be that often, not with Lindsay. Must be all the work. She does lift a lot of heavy stuff. _

Thanks for that, she thought dryly. She felt tired of her brain automatically analysing.

She felt Cat kiss her back. Her heart jumped and she opened her mouth slightly, automatically.

Sara broke the kiss. "Cat- Oh god Cat. I- I'm so sorry."

Catherine grinned, loving the way her usually hated nickname tripped off Sara's toungue like honey. "Sara Sidle, you have no idea how long-"

"SIDLE! WILLOWS! My office now." Ecklie interrupted. Both women looked terrified, and turned to the other. They laughed softly.

"Maybe we'll have to move to Los Angeles." Sara smiled.

"Maybe we will." Was the response.


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out they didn't have to move to L.A. Ecklie hadn't been that mad about _them_, he hadn't even asked one of them to change shift. He just stipulated that at work they behave like mature adults and not like high school kids in love.

The problem was, Sara Sidle felt like a High School kid. She couldn't speak for Catherine, but she really hoped that this meant she felt the same. Ecklie clearly assumed they were in a relationship, and it just felt so right to Sara. She wanted this. She wanted Cath.

Once they were out of there, Sara's head was throbbing. All of these possibilities that previously had been dismissed as pipe dreams reasserted themselves firmly in her head, and the room was spinning. She could feel herself burning up. Ever since she was a child she hadn't been able to handle big changes. They made her ill. For a week before she came to Vegas she'd had a high fever.

_Something's off here. This is different. _

She slammed the heel of her hand into her temple. She didn't want to think about that now. She didn't want to remember.

Her memory was right, though. The nausea, the dizziness. That wasn't right. That didn't fit. Every time something changed, all of her symptoms were exactly the same.

That was when the palpitations kicked in. Her over analytical, clinical brain said that this was textbook. She knew what this was.

Sara Sidle grimaced. It wasn't just the tachycardia, it was memories trying to surface. She put all her energy into pushing them back down. She'd deal with this later, she decided.

Her body had other ideas, though. As she realised Cat was still right next to her, talking to her, she felt her mouth begin to water.

_No._

She felt her throat constrict.

_Not happening._

Her stomach churn.

_Anywhere but here._

Her head was spinning, and although she could see Cat talk, her words were out of sync and her face was blurred.

She opened her mouth to ask Cat to help, but before she could, she doubled over, threw up the Quorn she'd eaten only hours before, and proceeded to fall onto her side and lose consciousness.

"Lindsay was talking about this Ballet thing last night- Sara? Oh Christ, Sara! HELP! Call a fucking ambulance Greg!"

Catherine knelt down, stroking her hand through the damp brown hair.

"Sara, sweetheart, hold on." She could hear sirens. She picked up the limp body in front of her, ignoring the vomit on her cheek, and held her close.

Lowering her voice, she whispered in Sara's ear.

"_I need you Sar, I really, really like you. I don't know why, but I do."_

EMT Paramedics were surrounding her.

They'd taken Sara from her.

She turned, stood and ran. She reached the Ambulance just as they loaded Sara on board.

"Wait! Can I come? I'm, I'm a CSI. We work together."

The tech was about to say no, but she flashed her badge and got in anyway. As they drove away, Catherine whispered in her ear again.

"_I won't leave you. I won't hurt you. I swear. I'm here, Sar."_


	3. Chapter 3

When Sara woke up, it was in a sterile white hospital room. She immediately assumed her dad had beaten her senseless again. She could make out a female presence next to her, vaguely. There to make sure she kept to the script.

"Mom?" She asked, but as soon as she said it, she realised that her mother didn't have strawberry blonde hair. She remembered. Catherine. Her face lit up and she grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

And then she focused and remembered the series of events following. She frowned.

"Sara! Um… did you just call me Mom?" Catherine practically shouted.

Sara came to the conclusion she had a splitting headache. Up until this point she hadn't realised.

"Yeah, I thought I was a kid again. Was weird. Get nurse. Painkillers."

Catherine looked horrified that she hadn't thought of it. She pressed the buzzer by Sara's bed and bit her lip. If they'd been friends sooner, maybe then Cat would know why Sara was ill.

The nurse came; a cheery, loud woman by the name of Michelle.

"Nice of you to join us Sara! What can I do for ya?" She chirruped.

Catherine spoke for Sara. "She's sick. She needs painkillers."

A frown passed across Michelle's face.

"Can't. Sorry. She's pregnant." Sara's head whipped around.

"Pregnant?" Catherine yelled, turning to Sara, who winced. Whether it was the yell or the fact that made her wince, Catherine didn't know.

"Yeah, that's why she was sick. Low blood sugar, plus high stress levels. She would have been dizzy and sick, but not that sick. You-" Michelle pointed at Sara "-should be eating better." And with that, the happy-go-lucky nurse from hell turned on her heel and vanished.

Sara was looking dejected. In fact, she looked as if someone kicked a puppy. To death.

Catherine hadn't noticed, she was too busy being furious at the woman before her.

"Wow. Sara. Am I your bit on the side? Or do you just stick to one night stands, fuck and go sort of thing? Oh, oh wait! Am I your break from men? Oh my god."

Sara shook her head. Quietly, she said "No. Catherine, I have never slept with a man. And you would never have been a one night stand. You're important. You're special. There's nobody else. I haven't even had sex in the last 4 months. Before that, yeah, I'd look for a one night stand in a bar." _But only if they looked like you;_ she added internally.

Catherine stared at her incredulously, took a deep breath, and launched right in there.

"You've _never_ slept with a _man?_ The evidence begs to differ, Sidle." The surname tripped off her tongue in venomous tones.

Sara looked straight at Catherine. She sighed, and looked at the sheet on her bed.

"Tell me Catherine, if someone raped Lindsay tomorrow, would she still be a virgin?"

"Well, yeah. Because non-consensual sex isn't-" The penny dropped. "Oh my god. When?"

Sara grimaced. "A while ago. 4,5 months, maybe?"

Silence cut through the room like a knife, broken only be the occasional sob from Sara. Catherine sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Sara's hair like she had done only an hour ago, shushing her gently.

R&R people! 130people read this and I haven't gotten one review! If it was crap, then tell me! I need to know!


	4. Chapter 4

It was days before Sara escaped the hospital, but she was fine, and they couldn't keep her. Catherine was furious at herself for not seeing it. She was amazed that Sara got through that without anyone to hold her hand. But then she realised; who did she have? Not her. The guys didn't trust her, either. Nobody had made her feel at home here. Grissom couldn't, not with him having the emotional range of a gnat. The only person who'd really, properly accepted Sara was Greg. And Greg certainly wasn't right for this kind of talk. Amongst all that guilt, she blamed herself. Of course she did. If everybody hates you, and the common link is you, then you must be to blame.

Right then, Catherine Willows vowed to fix this.

Which is why, instead of driving Sara home, she was taking her to her house.

"Cath? Why are we going to your house?" Sara asked.

"I refuse to let you go through this on your own." Catherine replied. As she parked, she looked down at Sara's belly. _There is a tiny bump. I wonder why I never saw it. _

"You're barely showing. Anyway, maybe you'd like to stay here while you're pregnant? I mean, it's nicer to go through it with someone."

_Did you just ask her out?_

"Did you just ask me out?"

"No." _You did, you know. _"Not on purpose."_ But you still meant it. _"Sorry" _She__ kissed __you._

Suddenly, Catherine felt quite brave. "Yeah, actually, I did. Accidentally, but I meant it. What do you say? If Lindsay's okay, then, you know, you want to? But I mean, only if, I mean, not because-" She gestured wildly at Sara's tummy, all the bravery gone, just nerves left.

Sara laughed, but quickly saw the horrified look on Catherine's face.

"You know what Cat? I'd love to start a relationship. But you better ask Linds first."

Nancy must have dropped her off, because she was peering out of the window. It was fairly early in the morning, with 2 hours before the school run.

As they headed inside, Sara felt all the nerves inside her bundle up and tie themselves in knots. Lindsay was stood by the door.

"You two should hook up." She said.

_That was easy; _Catherine thought. "Yeah, we sort of just did. Are you okay with that?"

Lindsay nodded "Sure. Can we have spaghetti for tea?

Never one for an anti-climax, Sara blurted "I'm pregnant." Two Identically shocked face slowly turned and fixed their eyes on her. She smiled sheepishly.

"It was going to come out sooner or later?" It was more of a question than a statement, and she cursed her brain for stopping the moment she'd walked in.

Come ON people. I need to know! I might just go and cry if I don't know how you feel. First reviewer gets their own story!


	5. Chapter 5

**I haven't made a disclaimer yet, so CSI doesn't belong to me. You all know who it belongs too. As always, read & review. Thanks for your interest. And if you don't like it, at least tell me! 3 reviews is highly disproportionate to 866 reads. I have a bit of writers block at the moment, and I turned 18 yesterday so I'm a bit hung-over. Forgive me.**

Catherine sat down with a coffee, and gestured to the pot. Sara fetched a cup and sat next to Cath at the breakfast bar.

"I can't believe you haven't been for a scan yet. You don't even know for sure how far along you are!" Catherine said

"Cath, I only found out when you did. And yeah, I've been putting it off. I'm frightened of it all becoming real. Right now, all I have is the word of a nurse and a tiny bump that might be a baby bump or a beer belly. And what if I'm like-" Sara stopped. A noise that sounded suspiciously like someone trying not to cry escaped her.

Gently, Cath tried to coax Sara out of her defensiveness. "Like what, Sar?"

But Sara was having none of it. "Nevermind Cath. I can't even remember what I was going to say."

She was looking the other way, and it was obvious to both women that Sara was lying. However, Catherine didn't push it and Sara made no move to inform her of the truth. Thinking it easier to leave the conversation, Sara picked up her too-hot coffee and went into the spare room where she had been sleeping for the last two weeks.

She put the coffee on the nightstand and sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. She'd been trying to keep her emotions all nicely packaged and stored away in some place she didn't frequent. It wasn't working. Over the last few weeks, Sara have become attached to Catherine, and she loved the idea of being in love. In reality however, Sara found it was one of the most terrifying experiences of her whole life.

_No wonder I avoided it for so long. _

She kept thinking about her mother and father, replying her childhood inside her head, the smell of copper in the air.

She kept thinking that she took after them. That meant that she might either be highly abusive or, and she didn't know which was worse, a murderer. Both ideas repulsed her, and every so often she was so worried about it that she threw up.

After a while Catherine came in. She just stood in the doorframe, afraid to initiate contact and yet worried to the point of nausea. This was a highly volatile and emotional Sara, and Catherine didn't want to poke the bear. On the other hand she cared about Sara and wanted to be her hero.

Sara was oblivious to Catherine, and she appeared to be crying, silently. She didn't seem to know she was crying, which probably made it worse to Catherine.

"Sidle." She said gently, whilst taking a step into the room. Sara didn't look up, but she smiled a little at the corner of her mouth.

"Willows." She replied a few minutes later.

"I know you lied."

"I know you know. I- I'll tell you about it. Just not right now, okay?"

Catherine sat down next to Sara and put her hand tentatively on her shoulder, hesitating above it for a second. Sara snorted.

"You can touch me you know. I won't bite."

Catherine smiled. "That's a real shame." This time Sara laughed outright, turning her head toward her partner and showing off her gap-toothed grin.

Catherine gasped and jumped away as if burnt. She almost screamed in her shock, and she couldn't even speak. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly ajar.

"What? What is it Cath, are you okay?" Sara asked.

"I-I'm just shocked." She replied, quietly.

Catherine had seen that adorable Sidle smile and realized.

_Catherine loved Sara_. No, that wasn't right. She'd loved Sara since the beginning.

_Catherine Willows had fallen _in_ love with Sara Sidle. _

Well, this was new. She thought she'd been in love with Eddie. With numerous other boyfriends and girlfriends that littered her past. In reality, though, she'd only been in love with the _idea _of being in love.

And now that she'd found the real deal, well, she was damned if she'd lose it.

"Sara, if ever anything is bothering you, you know that you can talk to me, right?" Sara nodded, perplexed. "No, I mean it. I-I just-"

Catherine trailed off, nerves chewing the edge of her words.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get my stuff and go." Sara was smiling sadly. By the time Catherine had realised what she had said, Sara had thrown most of her stuff into a case.

"No! Sara that's not what I meant." Catherine said, standing.

"Don't bother. I understand."

Catherine stamped her foot on the ground.

"Goddamn it Sidle! I'm in _love with you_, for fucks' sake!"

Comically, Sara dropped the glass photo frame she'd been holding on the floor. Amidst the broken glass, tiny Sara, Lindsay and Catherine stared up at them, smiling against a backdrop of the science museum.

"You _what?_" Sara asked.

Catherine just shrugged.

"Oh, Catherine." Sara said, softly. She walked through the broken glass without even realising and threw her arms around Catherine's neck, forcing her to fall onto the bed. "I'm in love with you, too."

Catherine lifted her head off the pillow and kissed Sara passionately, who kissed her back. It was the first time since the lab that they'd kissed. After a while, Sara pulled away.

"My feet hurt" she said.

Both women sat up, and looked at Sara's feet. Covered in blood, shards of glass were stuck to the bottom of her socks.

"Oh, fuck. I'm sorry about your feet. And your picture. What even was that a photo of?" Catherine asked. Sara reached for it, but since Catherine was closer she grabbed it before Sara could.

"Oh, _Sar._ Why didn't you just _say?"_ Catherine said, almost inaudibly.

"I didn't know you felt the same. I felt like an intruder, just walking into your house and helping your daughter with her homework. Like I was stealing from you or something."

Catherine just shook her head.

"Hey, Cath? Uhm, do you think you could help me with this?" She gestured at her feet, and Catherine jumped up.

"The first aid kit. I'll just get it."

Sara wasn't scared anymore. As long as Catherine was behind her, she didn't have anything to worry about.

After all, it's like riding a bike, right? All kids were the same, surely?

Or… not.


	6. Chapter 6

Sara grimaced as they pulled up outside of the hospital. She was showing majorly now, it had come about quite suddenly.

_Desert palms has never been so terrifying. _

She forced herself to smile as Catherine turned off the ignition.

"You ready?"

"Yes."_ No._

"God help you if you ever commit murder, Sar, because you're a horrible liar." Catherine smiled. "It's not that bad. It's intimidating, but it's actually pretty cool when it comes down to it."

Sara smiled. "I suppose."

They got out of the car and walked up to the hospital, and with every step the fear in Sara's heart increased. She thought she might die before she even got to the door.

By the time they had gotten inside, Sara had worked herself up considerably. Automatically she wanted to run away, being way out of her comfort zone. She thought she might cry.

_I damned well won't. I haven't cried in front of anyone since kindergarten._

But then she did, and it shocked her as much as anyone. And then Catherine took her hand and shushed her, like the mother she should have had. Everything was okay.

When the nurse finally came in, after half an hour of Sara freezing her ass off up on that chair with her belly exposed, she spread freezing cold jelly on her tummy. Now that Catherine could see Sara without the baggy clothes she'd taken to wearing, it was fairly obvious she was _really _pregnant.

Then there was the heartbeat, and the baby. It was the cutest black and white blob in the whole wide world, thought Sara.

_My black and white blob._

For the second time that day, she was crying infront of a stranger. But this time she was laughing like she hadn't in years.

_Maybe now everything can be okay._

She was still a little worried about becoming her parents, but there was a louder voice now.

_I could never hurt my blob. _

"Do you want to know the sex?" The nurse asked.

"Yeah, please."

"It's a girl, congratulations!" the nurse said.

"Can you tell how far along she is?" Catherine asked. Sara would have but she was still choking on her happy tears. Somehow she was relieved it was a girl.

"Sure, honey. She's 6 and a half months."

"6 and a half months?!" Catherine and Sara were practically in unison.

"Oh hang on, she's moving. Oh. Sara Sidle, you're having twins! Two little girls."

By the end of that half hour appointment, Sara was beaming, tears streaming down her face, carrying a picture of Blobs.

That's when tragedy struck.

A pregnant lady with a pushchair and 5 children saw Sara and Catherine, who were both wondering how on earth they'd cope with twins, and erupted into a volcano of self-righteousness.

"You disgust me! No sweetie, don't look, they're just filthy dykes. I hope you're putting that child up for adoption, because people like you can never bring up a child like a _normal_ family!"

Catherine turned to react, but Sara stopped her. "This one's mine, _Darling._"

Sara smiled a saccharine smile at the woman. "I think we're a lesser threat to society than _you_, aren't we sweetie? And just so you know, this woman over here, as well as being the most supportive partner in the whole world, has raised a child to 11, and she's the best kid in the whole world. Unlike yours" She gestured to two under 10 year old kids fighting "But then, if you were less concerned about fighting evil like two women in love, then maybe you'd have remembered to be a mother first and a bigot second. Or at least you'd have remembered to use protection and hey! Then we wouldn't be here talking, would we? Maybe my parents shouldn't have been parents, because they were pretty awful, but you know what? I'm different. I can give my children a safe environment. My little girls-" she rubbed her belly "-will grow up knowing that they are loved no matter what. No matter who they love, or how they live, I will love them. How about yours? If one of your children grows up to be a lesbian, how will you react? Will you be there for her, or will you break her heart?"

The woman looked shell shocked for a moment, and Sara made the mistake of thinking it was over. She turned to walk away.

"I would _kill _her."

And that was too much. As she turned, Sara couldn't even see.

"You'd kill her would you? Hey, Cath, did you catch that? Call child services, because those children are no longer in a safe environment. You, ma'am, are not a very good parent. I however will be, no matter what. _I am not my parents!"_

Catherine didn't call child services, and the woman was backing away. But that was no use to Sara, who had bottled up all those emotions for all these years. It was full to capacity, and about to burst.

She collapsed, memories engulfed her.

_Mommy, make it stop!_

_You're hurting me!_

_Daddy, you're hurting me!_

_'Daddy' doesn't have enough clients. What did you do, Sara? Did you scare them off, you little shit?_

_Laura, get me the rubber hose. Now, bitch!_

_Daddy! Please!_

_Sara? It's mommy. Are you okay?_

_Why don't you save me, mommy?_

_Because he'd hurt me too, Sara. He just drinks too much. He'll change. _

_You don't care about me at all._

_Do you expect me too? I never even wanted you! You're just a kid that gets in the way!_

_Mommy! _

_What's going on in here, Laura? A little rendezvous without the man of the house? I've been thinking. I think Sara's old enough to pay for the food in her belly and the roof over her head. What do you think Laura?_

_Whatever you want, dear. I'll be in the front room._

_Daddy, no! Get off of me!_

_You'll do what I say. _

_I won't! I won't! _

_You- fucking will!_

_Argh!_

_Mommy, my arm hurts._

_What happened?_

_Daddy threw me at the wall because I didn't want to._

_You should probably go to the hospital. You shouldn't have been climbing on the roof, should you?_

_No, mummy. I shouldn't have been climbing on the roof. _

_Hey, do you think they'll give you pain medication? _

Catherine had managed to carry Sara to the car, after a nurse said she'd be fine. She was clearly somewhere else right now.

"Daddy! No!" She screamed from the back seat, where Catherine had sat her up and strapped her in. Her voice still sounded like her, but higher. Younger.

"Sara. You've been so strong for so long. Oh, Sara."


	7. Chapter 7

When Lindsay got back from school, Sara was unconscious on the sofa (Catherine couldn't carry her upstairs) and Catherine was sat by her head, cradling a cup of coffee and singing under her breath, presumably to calm Sara down.

"Mom?" She whispered, careful not to wake Sara up.

Catherine put her finger on her lips and pointe to the kitchen, indicating '1' with her finger. She'd meet her in the kitchen in a minute.

"Sorry Sara, I'll be back soon." Catherine stroked her hand through Sara's hair, stood up and stretched. She had no idea how long she'd been sat there but the coffee she'd been cradling was icy cold and had a skin.

He went into the kitchen, shut the door behind her as quietly as possible and dumped the coffee down the sink. Rinsing the cup, she set about making a new pot. Lindsey came in through the other door.

"I take it the appointment didn't go well?" She asked, gently, putting a comforting hand on her mother's shoulder.

_Every so often, since Eddie died, I swear she carries the world on her shoulders. _

Catherine didn't turn around; she didn't want to be telling her daughter this, a 11 year old no less. But on the other hand, who else did she have? Who else would listen? In a few day Sara would be out of the paid leave she'd amassed, and then work would know. But for now, there was only Lindsay.

"The appointment was great. Sara got into a fight, an argument. She made herself ill, but the nurse said she'll be fine. She's better off waking up somewhere she's comfortable. The nurse assured me the babies will be fine, though, so don't worry."

There was a moment's silence. Catherine listened to her daughter's calm breathing.

"Babies?" Said Lindsay, quietly.

Catherine nodded. "Twins."

There was a loud groan from the living room.

"Cath?" Sara asked tentatively.

"We're in here" Lindsay was the one to reply.

A feeling of relief had flown through Catherine like waves. She was happy now that Sara was safe.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry for the last Chapter, guys. I had a 24h bug and cut it short because I had to throw up every 5 minutes.**

Sara was out of paid leave, and the boys were calling. She supposed they were suspicious, seeing as how she'd not bothered to explain why she'd taken it.

She'd have to go in tonight. She wasn't looking forward to explaining, although she probably wouldn't have to, knowing that there was a huge bump that could no longer be explained as "too much beer."

There was 2 hours left; Lindsay had already been taken to her Aunt Nancy's house. Catherine had yet to tell her family about Sara. Both women were sat in the kitchen, drinking coffee in tense silence. Neither was looking forward to explaining themselves.

"Has Lindsay done all her homework?" Catherine asked, breaking the silence finally.

Sara nodded, another thought occupying the forefront of her mind. "Yeah. I helped her with Biology. Cath?" Catherine turned her head towards her. "My clothes are hurting me. I really need to get some maternity wear. God, I am so not looking forward to _that_."

Catherine nodded; even Sara's baggiest sweater was stretched over her bump. "I have a few old clothes, although I don't suppose they are your style. We'll go shopping tomorrow. For tonight though, I guess you'll have to either cope with yours or wear mine. They'll probably restrict you to lab work anyway."

"No. I will work in the field until my waters break. And I think I'll wear yours, actually, if that's okay?"

Catherine smirked. The idea of Sara contaminating a crime scene with amniotic fluid was hilarious; she'd be more pissed off about the scene than about the labor itself.

"Talk to Griss, he'll probably let you work up until 8 months in the field. I can guarantee you that you'll regret that decision, though."

Sara nodded, and got up. "Where are they?"

Catherine told her; they were in the spare room closet. She offered to help but Sara merely laughed.

"I'm pregnant, not paralysed. Christ, my ankles are killing me."

Two hours later, Catherine was driving them to work, since Sara could barely fit behind the wheel anymore.

"Cath, I hate your driving. I'm driving us on the way back." She said, absolutely serious.

Catherine laughed, and then sobered up as she realised Sara was not kidding.

"Sara! You're huge; you'll never fit behind the wheel. I _have_ to drive."

Sara scowled, but shut up, as Catherine was pulling into the car park and there was no point in continuing now. She needed all the support she could get, and she didn't need to push Catherine away.

"God, Cath, I'm so nervous. What if the boys hate me for not telling them?"

Catherine looked at her sideways. She knew the boys would be too happy to care, but Sara was ridiculously untrusting and didn't know the boys like she did.

"Sar, just explain that you didn't know up until recently. You'd already taken your paid leave, since you had that accident in the hall way you've been away."

Sara nodded but looked unusually pale anyway. As they walked in, Sara held tightly to Catherine's arm. She felt sick to the stomach. In the foyer, they literally bumped into Greg, who dropped all his files. As he and Catherine attempted to collect them, Sara did nothing but stand there awkwardly, her heart in her mouth. With his head still down Greg cleared his throat.

"Hey Sar, nice to see you-"He lifted his head to look up at her, but the sight was blocked. "-Two?" He said; looking like the cat who'd got the cream.

"Three" she corrected, finally realising that this couldn't even go badly, everything she'd done badly was balanced out by the fact she was carrying _babies._ Even CSI's go mental for babies. She was even more relieved as she was reminded of what her foster mother had told her.

_It takes a village to raise a child, Sar._

In this case, it would take a lab. Sara was happier than she'd been since college.

"Two? You're having twins, Sara? Oh my god, will you call one of them Greg?" He asked, putting on his best puppy dog look. In reality he just looked like a petulant child. It could have been this that made Sara laugh out loud, or it could have been the intense and sudden relief.

"No Greg, I can't. They're both girls." She said, once she'd calmed down enough to talk.

He shrugged. Apparently he'd thought of this. "There's always Gregoria. Greg for short, obviously."

Both Sara and Cath were struggling to keep a straight face. "Does she look Hispanic to you, Greg? She might let you babysit if you're lucky." Catherine said.

This pacified Greg, and he agreed to go along with the girls to tell the rest of the guys. Warrick and Nick were heatedly discussing something in the layout room. As they approached, Greg stood directly in front of Sara so that neither of them could see Sara's bump.

"Hey guys" Greg shouted. Both men turned to him. "You're gonna be uncles!"

Sara was blushing furiously but neither Nick nor Warrick even noticed.

"Oh god, Greg. Who'd ya impregnate?" Nick asked, good naturedly.

Greg didn't answer that question. Instead he stepped aside, revealing Sara and her belly to the other guys.

Warrick stood with his mouth hung slightly open, but snapped out of it before Catherine told him he'd catch flies. "You slept with Greg? Oh my god Sar, Griss is going to kill you!"

Both Sara and Greg were blushing now and Sara's eyes were permanently fixed on a spot on the floor. Greg jumped in to correct them.

"No! Guys, it's no me, that's not my baby!" He almost screamed in a blind panic.

Sara shook her head, still watching the floor. "Greg. Babies."

They were overjoyed, and crowded round her.

_Now it's just Grissom to tell._ She thought dryly._ Should be ecstatic._

"Where's Grissom?" Sara asked, dreading the consequences.

"He's not in yet. You're really early, swing's still hanging around."

_Excellent._


	9. Chapter 9

It was 10 minutes to the start of shift, and Cath and Sara were sitting in the break room. They'd left the boys in the layout room.

"Sara, we're going to have to talk about you collapsing at some point, you know." Catherine said.

Sara sighed. "Not right now, though?" She asked, almost pleaded.

Catherine shook her head; not right now. They stayed silent for another 3 minutes, and Grissom came in.

"Griss! I need to talk to you." Sara demanded.

"About what?" He asked, as if it was perfectly normal to be the size of a small elephant.

"Grissom, I'm pregnant. With twins. And before you say anything, I'm staying in the field as long as I possibly can, okay?"

Grissom nodded, seemingly as if he'd only just seen her. Which, knowing Griss, was probably true.

"How far along are you?" He asked.

"I'm not telling you." Sara shook her head stubbornly.

"6 and a half months. She's staying at mine." Catherine shrugged off Grissoms disbelieving stare and Sara's death glare.

"Assignments, Griss? Sara and I can work together in the field. That way I can keep an eye on her." Sara was about to protest, but a small head shake from Catherine stopped her.

"Right, where are the boys?" He asked.

"Layout room." They chorused.

"Looks like you get a 419 off Boulder Highway. Good luck, and don't do anything stupid, Sara. You can't chase a killer. Maybe its best you give me your gun so you're not tempted to get into a shootout."

This was too much for Sara, who was not happy at all about being unable to pull a solo.

"No. No way, Griss, what if he shoots me? I need my gun to protect my babies. Leave it out, would ya?"

Grissom shrugged. For a second, there was silence, and then the girls left.

**Sorry it couldn't be longer guys, my emotions have gotten the better of me. One second I'm laughing, and then I'm sobbing. I don't know what's going on here :/**


	10. Chapter 10

Sara and Catherine were back in the car. Sara found herself slightly more relaxed with Cath's driving this time around. However much putting her fate in someone else's hands scared her, there was nobody she was more willing to trust with her life.

Catherine smiled, she knew how much sara would regret her desicion to work in the field as long as she could. She sniggered as she imagined Sara trying to bend down to swab blood evidence on the floor and realising she couldn't reach it.

"What?" Sara demanded.

_Must have heard me laugh. Fuck. _

"Nothing. Uh. Just thinking about... a joke Greg told me earlier." She lied

"Oh really. And you think I'm a bad liar? You've been with me all day. What was funny?" Sara countered, one eyebrow raised sceptically.

Catherine swallowed. _This was how I die, then, is it? Sara would shoot me at close range._

"Uh... I was picturing you, 8 months pregnant, working a scene. Just that you wouldn't be able to... work so well. You know?"

Sara laughed out loud. "Catherine, I don't kill people. Why are you so nervous about talking to me?"

Catherine scowled. "Am not."

_Are too._ Sara thought smugly.

"Okay, we're here" Catherine said. They both stepped out of the car and simutaneously put on their aviators. Catherine approached the responding officer and Sara stepped off in the direction of the scene. The closer she got, the more of the scene revealed itself. She knelt down next to the body and pretended to be examining the knife haphazardly sticking out of the body.

Instead, she tuned her ears to the conversation Catherine was having.

"... Knife crime. We can't let this guy get away. That is only part of the scene, there's another two bodies about 500 yards that way, Miss Willows." Sara cursed being faced away from the two.

"Well why did you only call one in? That's triple homicide!" Catherine questioned, loudly.

"We hadn't found the other two at that point." He said, sheepishly.

Sara rolled her eyes, and they fell on a shoeprint. Miraculous that it was still here. She knew she'd better collect it as soon as possible.

Something within the print glittered. _What the hell IS that?_ She wondered.

"Hey, Cath?" She said, loudly and slowly, without turning around incase the shiny object should disappear.

Catherine turned at the sound of Sara's voice. Neither of them had grabbed their kits from the car, so she sprinted over and removed them from the trunk before heading over to Sara.

"I think it's glass, Cath. But there's some writing on it." Sara said as Catherine knelt down beside her. Catherine opened her kit and took out tweezers and an evidence bag. After bagging it, Sara placed the mould around the print and poured the plaster in. As it dried, Sara watched Catherine walk around the scene, pausing occasionally when she notices something interesting. Sara smiled. This woman was hers forever, to have and to hold, till death do us part.

Sara was shook out of her reverie by the assistant coroner pulling up. As he hopped out of the truck, Sara waved at him. Catherine was examining what looked like spatter.

"Hey, Sar! Got some medium velocity spatter over here!" She was holding up a swab that had turned pink. Sara smiled, waiting for David to tell her she could pull out the knife from just below his ribs.

Later on, as they sent David back with the evidence and body, they went to check the other scene. As soon as it came into sight, Sara turned and vomited. It was by far the worst scene she had seen in a while.

Lying inside the tape, was a mother and her daughter. The mother had her arms wrapped protectively around her little girl, and the resemblance to the Willows' girls was horrifying. After she was done throwing up, she turned back to Catherine who was watching her curiously.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Cath, we are going to catch this bastard."

**So that's about it for this part, sorry it took so long to upload.**


	11. Chapter 11

Catherine looked at the evidence before her. The glass was from a car window, a match to a Toyota Hybrid. They'd also found black car paint underneath the mothers fingernails, along with skin from an unknown male. There were thousands of cars that matched that description in Las Vegas though, so this really didn't help. Exasperated, she decided to work on her surprise for Sara.

Half an hour later, she heard her pager beep. A 911 from Al, must be important. He never paged anyone. She practically jumped out of her seat and ran to Autopsy.

"What's up, Doc?" She said, slightly out of breath. Al raised his eyebrow, knowing that Catherine probably didn't mean to quote Bugs Bunny.

"The toxicology and SAE kit came back on the little girl. It's not good, Cath. Our TOD suggests that the mother and daughter died first, and the husband about an hour later."

Catherine nodded. "What did the tox report say?"

"Well, it says that they found flunitrazepam in her system." He sighed. Injustice was the basis of all of their careers, but sometimes it was difficult.

"She was roofied? This couldn't get any worse."

"Actually..." Doc Robbins trailed off as Catheirne raised an eyebrow. "It could. The DNA from the SAE kit came back with 13 allelles in common with the kid. Her father did this to her. And there he is, DNA confirms it." He pointed at the first body they'd found.

"I don't understand, why would he need to roofie a girl under ten? There's no way she could have fought him off!"

Doc Robbins walked towards the man in queston. His face seemed to morph under the knowledge of what he'd done. Where before he had been handsome in a rugged sort of way, Catherine could now only see a monster who'd used his daughter as some kind of toy.

"He was so hyped up on intravenous drugs, I doubt a toddler would have had trouble fighting him off. His wife must've kept him pretty well fed, because we found evidence of steak in his stomach."

Cath grimaced. She could guess the answer to her next question. "And what of the wife?"

"Evidence of long-term abuse, at least over ten years. Bruises, broken bones that had healed wrong, that sort of thing."

"Thanks, Al." She smiled sympathetically at him and left the room.

As she was cwalking away, Sara appeared from round a corner.

"You been to autopsy?" She asked, casually. Catherine nodded.

"You wanna tell me the outcome?"

As Catherine told her the story, Sara's face gradually whitened, memories in her mind resurfacing, her own childhood biting at her. She stood stock still and listened. When Catherine was done, Sara just stared.

And then she whispered four words.

"We need to talk."


End file.
